1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic devices, and more particularly to cardlike electronic devices and a method for making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cardlike electronic devices, such as credit card calculators, personal organizers and pagers are gaining wide acceptance because of the convenience they offer in terms of their small size. Manufacturing processes required to construct such devices have generally relied on tried and true manufacturing processes developed for much larger, portable electronic devices. Credit card pagers, for example, today utilize conventional reflow solder technologies, wherein solder paste is screened onto the printed circuit board, the components are placed, and the assembly is finally reflow soldered. Following the reflow solder process, the finished assembly is then tested and placed in a housing which provides both protection to the electronic devices and is esthetically pleasing.
In order to insure the reliability of such cardlike electronic devices, various processes have been developed to ruggedize the housing. One such process is to insert mold a metal plate within a portion of the housing, such as one used for a credit card pager. The metal plate adds stiffness to the housing, thereby improving the ruggedness of the design. An alternative process, such as used for cardlike calculators utilizes thin sheetlike substrates which are assembled in layers joined using adhesives which are cured in a hot pressing process. Such a process is very time consuming, in that each layer is assembled to the previously assembled layers in a sequence of steps which require sufficient time to insure the adhesive is cured prior to the next step. It is also difficult to insure that the adhesive is completely cured before the next step is undertaken. The process is further complicated through the use of solder pastes, required to attach the various electronic components.
What is needed is a process for assembling a cardlike electronic device which does not require a sequence of time consuming steps, and which does not rely on the use of solder printing or adhesives to enable assembly of the device.